This feature requires a paid plan on Vimeo.
If you have a paid Vimeo account, you can choose to store your source files (the original file and the initial version of the video that you uploaded) on Vimeo.
In this article:
Enable source file storage
To enable source file storage, follow these steps:
- Go to your Account Settings and click the Videos tab.
- Under Upload Defaults, scroll to the heading "Video preferences."
- Check the box next to Keep source video files.
- Click Save. Once that's done, your source files will be stored on any uploads you make going forward.
⚠️Note: Checking the box will not restore any files that have already been removed. The same goes for when you upgrade — once your membership is at Plus or above, you'll have to go and manually enable this setting.
Download your source files
If you store your source files, you will be able to download them at any time. If you enable downloads on your videos, any of your viewers will also be able to download your source file in addition to any Vimeo versions (HD, etc.)
💡Tip: The Vimeo HD versions of your videos are often smaller than your source files, even though the quality is not noticeably different. We recommend having viewers download your Vimeo HD versions to minimize download time without sacrificing quality.
Lost source files
- By default, your source file will be permanently deleted if you are a Free or Basic member or if you are a paid member but haven't enabled source file storage in your account settings as described above.
- While Basic or Free members can indeed download the source files made available by any paid members, they do not have the ability to permanently store or share their own source files on Vimeo.
- You also must maintain your paid membership to keep your source files. If your subscription ends or the feature is disabled, your source files may be deleted and may not be recoverable.
- We recommend keeping your own independent backups. This ensures you always have access to your files, even if they're removed from Vimeo in the future.
⚠️Note: Any source files uploaded via an API pull application (like Dropbox, Google Drive, One Drive, Custom App, etc.) prior to September 2016 cannot be downloaded, regardless of whether you enabled the setting in your video preferences.